Thursday, 22 February 2007

A French woman has triumphed in a resolutely masculine world. Her name was not Ségolène Royal but Anne-Sophie Pic, the first female chef to be given three Michelin stars for 56 years.

The triumph of Mme Pic, 37, was also a triumph for family tradition over globe-trotting, celebrity chefdom. Mme Pic is the fourth generation of her family to cook in Maison Pic, a hotel-restaurant in Valence in the Rhône valley that began as a lunch stop for motorists on the main road from Paris to the south in the early 20th century. She took over the kitchen 10 years ago, with no formal training except by her father, Jacques, who had died five years earlier.The Independent:

"You wanna know what's wrong with religion?
Religion is supposed to be about people being nice to each other, but frankly I don't see a lot of that. You know what I do see is, I see, a lot of people using the good book to say that they're morally superior. I see people building TV stations to bilk grandma out of her pension checks, all in the name of God. How about all those God-fearing people who are killing other God-fearing people because they don't fear God the same way?"
- Dr. John Becker